London stocks drop as oil, mining stocks weigh By Reuters

(Reuters) – London’s FTSE 100 fell on Thursday as heavyweight mining and energy stocks tracked a slump in commodity prices on signs of slowing global economic growth and fears of a quicker withdrawal of global monetary stimulus.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index dropped 1.9% to a near three-week low of 7,060.6 points with energy stocks and industrial metal miners leading declines.

Oil prices dropped for a sixth straight session to their three-month lows at a per-barrel cost of $67.08, while growth bellwether copper also weakened.

The domestically focussed mid-cap index fell 1.3% with travel and leisure stocks being top drags.

Among stocks, UK-listed shares of Chilean miner Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) dropped 5.0% even after the company said its half-year profit would soar to $1.784 billion, and it would pay an interim dividend of 23.6 cents per share.

British cleaning products maker McBride tumbled 16.7% after it said it expected 2021 adjusted profit to be 55%-65% lower than market expectations.